Who services the lifts and escalators?
Eighteen maintenance depots are tasked with the job of attending to various complaints at stations in the Chennai Division of the Southern Railway, which covers Kancheepuram, Sriperumbudur, Tiruvallur, Arakonam,Vellore and Villupuram — and two districts in Andhra Pradesh, namely Chittoor and Tirupathi. This is besides periodical maintenance by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). All lifts/ escalators are covered under annual maintenance contract (AMC), but they are not covered if the cause of fault is a slipper slipping in or any other comparable reason.
Top reasons for malfunctioning
* When the emergency button is pressed unnecessarily: this means the technical staff has to come with keys to release the button to get it running again
* Vandalism, especially inserting slippers and other hard objects into the escalator can cause it to get jammed
* When there is power supply-related issues and door is distributed
* Overload
* Insufficient maintenance and faults in mechanical and electrical systems
Choosing the best option
Both the lift and the escalators have their advantages and disadvantages. The former has become a basic necessity in every station as part of Amrit Bharat Station Scheme.
While the average cost of a lift is around ₹50 lakh, an escalator costs over a crore. The need for a lift/escalator is decided based on the number of footfalls a station receives. For a station with a patronage of 5,000 people, a lift should be provided. If the footfall is more than 25,000 then escalators must also be made available. Space is a big constraint in certain stations in setting up such a facility, so sometimes priority is given to escalator that goes upward (the logic being it’s easier to climb down). Based on recommendation by the commercial department, engineering feasibility such as width and other parameters are studied. Civil along with electrical works take an average of four months for a lift to get running.
In numbers
Total number of railway stations in Chennai Division: 160
Stations with lifts: 89
Stations with escalators: 69
Sanctioned lifts: 64
Work in progress (lifts):16
Sanctioned escalators:17
Work in progress (escalators):12
What is the average lifespan of a lift/escalator?
20 years
What is the standard response time to a complaint?
The normal response time is within 24 hours. But if the complaint warrants calling the OEM to look into it, the timeline could b stretched. Fixing an escalator-related complaint takes more time than one pertaining to a lift.
Evolution of lifts in terms of technology
CCTV cameras are increasingly being attached to lifts, six MRTS stations including Thirumayilai are currently getting new lifts with this safety feature. Real time monitoring of working of these system is coming up soon.
How should a complaint be raised?
RailMadad offers three options (Web, App, SMS) to register a complaint. Passenger helpline (139), the helpline number pasted on the lift/escalator, informing the station master and writing in the complaint book kept at every station are among the options.
Questions were answered by Electrical General Department, Southern Railway
Published – September 15, 2025 10:22 am IST
